Newbie questions to homeschoolers?

[gabysmom617]

Well...actually I'm not a newbie to mdc, and I don't even know if I should even be thinking on this right now, my child is only 2 1/2, but I was wondering:

What are your philosophies on homeschooling vs. other schools?

Why did you decide to homeschool?

What do you have against, say public schools, or any other types of schools? ( I know that sounds snarky, but I don't mean it that way, I have a LOT of issues with public schools and am about 90% sure I'm not putting my child in one...)

Just wondering about your personal experiences and opinions. TIA!

[Mongoose]

Hi....and Welcome.

I am sort of a newbie here too, but I thought I might mention that there is a sticky "Tell us your story" which kinda answers some of you questions. So if you just want to read for a while before experienced people get back to ya, go right ahead.
And no it is not a problem to post here when your child is 2 1/2. Mine is 3...and so far they allow me to be here :-).

[zeldamomma]

Honestly, we came to homeschooling not because I think schools are awful (though I definitely see some downsides to institutional schools), but because we prefer homeschooling. I like the way homeschooling elevates the family and lets my kids work at their own pace.

I don't have strong opinions about other types of schools. I feel like each family needs to figure out what works for them. The kids we know who attend school seem to be doing fine. I know it is a lot of work to have kids in school, and, particularly because my oldest is a night owl, I prefer to put my efforts directly into educating my kids instead of having to support whatever the school's priorities are (for example, I would need to keep my 7 year old from staying up till midnight reading so she would be well-rested for the school day).

ZM

[CariOfOz]

Definitely have a read through some of the stories in the sticky.. some of us have had interesting journeys on the way to homeschooling.

what are your philosophies on homeschooling vs. other schools? I don't have have an us vs them type philosophy.. it's more a what works for them vs what works for us

Why did you decide to homeschool? We decided homeschooling was worth a shot when after 6months, and 30odd absences due to illness, I got FED up and overwhelmed with constant sickness. Dh & I have decided we'll very likely keep right homeschooling because it works for us and ds, we like the freedom and the fact that we can tailor our sons education to his level.

What do you have against, say public schools, or any other types of schools?
Against schools in general: 1. Their one size fits all approach 2. The immense amount of time wasted on the logistics of having 25 first graders in a classroom 3. We hated being chained to a public school schedule!! 4. lack of supervision of the little darlings.. too many children are emotionally scarred from bullying in schools. I suppose I could go on, but that's enough lol. I will say thought that for some families school works great, and that's just fine, I just want to be able to do things OUR way

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by gabysmom617

What are your philosophies on homeschooling vs. other schools?

Why did you decide to homeschool?

What do you have against, say public schools, or any other types of schools?

My reasons for hsing and philosophy about learning have changed over the years.

I like that our family is the center of the kids' world. They're out and about and involved in all kinds of activities, but since they're not focused on life-at-school most of their waking hours, home and family is their center.

Our lives let them be who they are and follow their own path rather than the path that the school sets for them. Their lives belong to them. They make their own goals and enjoy what they're doing. Schools focus so strongly on preparing a child for the next thing--the next test, the next grade, the next school--that I think it makes it hard to live in the present.

My oldest went to school at first because we didn't know we had a choice. But making him go to school, and do his homework, and follow the school's requirments, etc. was a major change in our lives, and not a welcome one. (I hadn't been making him do things he didn't want to do, or things he wasn't ready for, before he turned 5 and yet, once school started, I was having to force him to do all sorts of things.) And school took up more time than the 30 hours a week he actually spent there. There were always assignments, even on weekends and vacations, that cut into our family time.

Aside from academics, the atmosphere of school was not one of fairness. There were rewards for obeying the adults, punishments, only one "right" way to do things. While it's easier, when dealing with large numbers of people, to have hard and fast rules it certainly doesn't encourage creative problem solving. And of course, parents are expected to enforce and uphold all school rules whether we agree with them or not.

I've heard teachers tell kids that school is their job. That parents go to work and children go to school. Given the choice of being in a classroom all day doing a "job" v being free to be out in the world exploring what interests them, my kids all chose the latter.

[majikfaerie]

homeschooling is just what's best for my family.
the fact that PS is, IMHO, a damaging environment for many children.

[acystay]

number 1 it is never to early or late to think about what is best for your child.

For me I just somehow knew that I would keep DD (then ds1 and ds2) at home. I didn't need to send her to a pre-school to teach her things at home. As time went on, we just loved it more and more.

I also started realizing that I didn't want my child subjected to critcisms she wasn't ready emoitionally to handle. I completely disagree with NCLB. I completely disagree that a child receive a better education in a school. I love our openness to school and our relaxed days. I realize now too (since she is 6) that I couldn't in now way get up, get her ready, and keep peace in the morning if I had to do so.

I was a private Catholic school teacher as well. I had children in my LA classes at the middle school level who hated to read. I books! I could believe how many hated reading. I changed all of that and started doing reading workshops with them s became our foundation in my classroom. We talked about what they liked and didn't. They had a choice finally to choose a book or toss it if they didn't like it. It was amazing! At first, it was hard b/c they were worried I would judge them. My greatest success with this was having my 6th graderes talk about Harry Potter and stop b/c they didn't want to ruin for the others who weren't in the same spot, or the girl who asked for 5 :bounce yes 5! books for Christams, but by far the best was a girl who after 6 mos (8th grader) finally finished a book and d it. What was sad was the school librian who said well good for her for finally doing it but it is only a 4th grade level and only counts as 2 points on her AR (acclerated reader).

My whole point: I never want that love of learning to leave my children. I want them to be challenged more than a tradiation school setting can allow. I never want someone to tell them b/c they enjoyed something that is deemed "below" grade level that it wasn't good for them.

[gabysmom617]

Thanks for all of your perspectives! I am really soaking up all of your experiences...

Ok, I have one more question:

What is deschooling? From what I gather so far, it something that a ps'ed kid goes through to get back into learning again..?

I'm still kinda scratching my head. I'm gonna look it up too...I can just imagine how it would happen, you get so tired of being drilled on stupid/boring/useless stuff in school that you need some time off to really get into learning again? I dunno, I'm just curious about it, and how is it that (some, obviously, or dare I say, most) schools make it so that a child dislikes learning...? The whole concept is still kinda foggy to me, but from what I understand, it makes sense...

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by gabysmom617

Thanks for all of your perspectives! I am really soaking up all of your experiences...

Ok, I have one more question:

What is deschooling? From what I gather so far, it something that a ps'ed kid goes through to get back into learning again..?

I'm still kinda scratching my head. I'm gonna look it up too...I can just imagine how it would happen, you get so tired of being drilled on stupid/boring/useless stuff in school that you need some time off to really get into learning again? I dunno, I'm just curious about it, and how is it that (some, obviously, or dare I say, most) schools make it so that a child dislikes learning...? The whole concept is still kinda foggy to me, but from what I understand, it makes sense...

You deschool to get over the desire to only store stuff in short term memory long enough to regurgitate the stuff back in the correct form on the test. You then can begin to remember what it is like to learn stuff because you want to know it and enjoy both the process and sense of accomplishment in learning new skills and information.

We didn't use PS because of the age/grade lockstep but have now found so many more great things about homeschool I can't imagine our child going back - until college.